11 



the adult female ; outer margins of inner secondaries broader and paler yellowish-buff ; 

 under parts much paler ; centre of abdomen brighter sulphur-yellow ; bill and legs paler 

 brown : length 5-0, wing 2-9, tail 2'1, tarsus 0'8, culmen 0-7 (/;). 



The Chestnut-backed Weaver-bird, although described hj Lesson in the 

 ' Revue Zoologiqne par la Soci^te Cuvierienne ' for ] 840, remained un- 

 figured until now, with the exception of a small chromo portrait of it in 

 Carl Russ's ' Stubenvogel,' published in 1879. 



The distribution of this species resembles that of the preceding, with 

 which it associates, occupying as it does the whole of the forest- bound 

 coast of AVest Africa, from Senegambia in the north to the River Congo in 

 the south, but it does not appear to penetrate far into the interior. The 

 species, according to the little knowledge we possess of its habits, is extremely 

 abundant in its native haunts, breeding in large colonies in the great palm 

 and bamboo swamps bordering the rivers, where it suspends its nest from 

 every available branch or frond, in common with a host of its congeners. 



During Messrs. Shelley and Buckley's two months' Bird-collecting at 

 Fantee on the Gold Coast, they found that Ri/phanfoimis castaneofuscus 

 " generally frequented the more wooded districts, where it is very 

 common : the irides are yellow in the male, and brown in the female and 

 young." 



According to Governor H. T. Ussher, the Chestnut-back Weaver is 

 "very common in Fantee, especially round Cape Coast. They are invari- 

 ably found in grassy swampy places, and are particularly fond of the 

 bamboos or canes, whence their nests may be seen depending in hundreds. 

 They are very sociable, and are occasionally captured as cage-birds." 



Dr. A. Reichnow says : " According to my observations, the Fox- 

 weaver avoids the localities, or at any rate does not Ijuild in places 

 frequented by P. eiLcidlatus and nigerr{m:us. It does not hang its net on 

 cocoa-nut palms or other high trees, but rather on low bushes. It prefers 

 open ground which is strewn here and there with single bushes and trees, 

 and likes to build on the waving reeds of the papyrus. The nest resembles 

 in form that of PL cueuUntus, but has no tube-like appendage at the 

 entrance-hole, and is somewhat more loosely built than the latter. The 

 eera's are bright blue, 2.3 — 24'5 mm. in length, and 15'5 — 16 mm. in 

 breadth. I always found only two in a brood. Biittekofer also confirms 

 th3 jn-eference of this species for thickets of reeds wherein to place its nest, 



